Americans are dying. Our children are being gunned down in school.
Movie goers now worry that the shots fired are not confined to the movie, but are assault weapons being fired at them as they enjoy their popcorn.
We are not safe in our places of worship, shopping malls, grocery stores, colleges, or even our elementary schools.
American citizens are paying attention. We want to be safe and secure as we go about our ordinary days. We condemn any country that would supply weapons to terrorists, but we approve the sale of assault weapons to terrorists within our borders.
The amazing thing is that the majority of Americans favor significant restrictions on the sale of weapons and ammunition. Recent surveys found that:
1. 89% of people favor universal background checks on people buying guns and ammunition.
2. 69% of people favor a complete ban on the sale of military style assault weapons.
3. 68% of people favor a ban on high capacity ammunition clips.
4. Over 80% of people favor banning the purchase of guns by people considered to be “HIGH RISK” and those who have violated restraining orders relating to domestic violence.
5. 61% of people favor more screening and treatment of the mentally ill to help prevent gun violence.
6. 66% of people don’t want to live near anyone with a serious mental illness.
7. 31,000 people every year are murdered in the United States, which is 20 times greater than the average in other developed countries.
In spite of the overwhelming support for a ban on assault weapons, it appears that Congress will not approve such a ban. Why you ask? How could Congress justify not representing the will of the people? The answer is that they are representing not their constituents, but the people who provide financial support for their re-election efforts. During the period between 2001 and 2010 the NRA spent between $1.5 and $2.7 million dollars per year on federal lobbying efforts. Yet during the 2010 election cycle the NRA spent more than $7.2 million dollars on political campaigns.
In 2010 terrorists killed 13,186 people worldwide. In 2010 31,672 people were killed in the United States alone in gun-related deaths. Our government has spent more than half a trillion dollars on homeland security since the September 11,, 2001 attacks, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but there has been virtually nothing spent on deterrence of gun violence.
When I pass through airport security
they confiscate shampoo and moisturizer if they exceed 3.4 oz.
Yet James Holmes was able to purchase four guns and more than 6000 rounds of ammunition , legally, during a 60 day period before the Aurora shooting.
With those second amendment rights he was able to discharge 50-60 bullets that could kill 50-60 people in the span of one minute. The terrorists within the borders of our country are more frightening, and more deadly than those who live thousands of miles away. Soldiers are being killed daily in Afghanistan and Iraq, but our children are being killed at home. It’s a tragedy when a soldier loses his/her life. It is a catastrophe when American children are not safe to go to school, the shopping malls, the movies, or the grocery store!
22 comments
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February 6, 2013 at 2:03 pm
GreenTiger17
I must say..2nd amendment rights come in handy for people who like to kill others with no justification but for their 2nd amendment rights! Knowing they’ll have an array of supporters (NRA/RW) to back up their mass murdering. How wonderful. The right defends these people to the max. And they wonder why its happened so much lately. The heck with the ones that died. They mean nothing. They were probably part of the 47% –right GOP/NRA? It has to happen to one of them before they will ever do anything about it or react appropriately. I’m almost positive had LaPierre had a child and that child was one of the ones slaughtered ..I can’t help but wonder. Would he still be making the excuses that EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE AN ASSAULT WEAPON after the loss of his child’s life? And how come NO ONE not one news person has everasked LaPierre or any GOP or any of the others who defend ASSAULT WEAPONS this question? Maybe it will answer itself when it happens to ONE OF THEIR CHILDREN, THEIR SPOUSE, THEIR BROTHER, SISTER etc. or even THEM! I give you Gabby Giffords after sarah’s suggestions and blood libel!! At the rate these mass shootings are going now–since the SHOOTERS KNOW they’ll be glamorized by the MEDIA, RW and NRA ..you/your family’s turn could be coming real soon NRA to a school or theater near you.
February 6, 2013 at 2:36 pm
Kelsbells
I still think there’s some weirdness occurring at high levels. I know the world is a dark place and evil has underscored all historical events. I know there are ulterior motives and mysterious backers at all levels of government. We can trust no one. The person whose face is on a newspaper cover is NOT the person in power. They are pawns in the ultimate game. Sure Obama, Bush, Clinton, and other more localize politicos have gotten caught up in the deceptions of DC. But I’d call NONE of them bad people.
The truly bad have never been named by anyone. I believe that. Do you really think, despite his lack of professional achievement, Obama really meant to disrespect a large portion of the country by calling them grateful?
The President, each state’s governors, each town’s mayors, are nobodies.
The Question: Who actually holds power? Who on the left chose to play the race card and put forward a black man who would become President? Who picked Palin out of Alaska and thought she could help them? Why is politics in the Bush family’s blood? Why is Clinton able to get away with every little thing and still be considered a trusted and valued leader?
What is the true powerholder’s motive? We’ve seen liberalism destroy economies abroad. We’ve heard about socialized medicine’s huge issues in Canada. We heard the general business community rail against a bill that will hurt them and the country.
Who or what kind of a person would STILL push through such policies?
February 6, 2013 at 6:40 pm
steve
Kelsbells:
WTF are you talking about?!!! Your “race card” remark is especially touching, although it is rivaled by some of your other pronouncements.
Get rid of the labels, buzz words, and catch phrases! Why don’t you explain exactly what “liberalism” is, and how it “destroyed economies abroad.” Don’t skimp on details and examples. Precisely what “huge issue” does socialized medicine have in Canada? What is the “general business community” and how did it “rail” against an unidentified “bill?” How would it be harmful, and to whom?
PLEASE don’t include me (“We” or “We’ve”) in your unfounded generalizations. Those are best left in your simplistic, paranoid wingnut world.
February 6, 2013 at 6:43 pm
Leah
You are brainwashed and don’t know it. much of what you write is paranoid far right nonsense not based on factual information. I could go through and argue each point with you and provide factual information, but you don’t want that. There is no point in having a discussion because that is not what you are looking for.
PS I’m trying to be very polite to you and it isn’t easy because your rantings are so far fetched and delusional, it truly is frightening. TRY to open up your mind and read from both sides. You obviously haven’t done this or don’t want to. I think you are our troll who goes to the various blogs trying to BULLY people into not talking about the Palin’s. Your posts are obvious and frankly boring at this point. There is something very sick and disturbing about your rants, sorry.
February 6, 2013 at 7:12 pm
abbafan
“Liberalism destroys economies abroad”. – Don’t make me laugh; W’s domestic economic policies, coupled with two useless money wars, buried the U.S. economy. “We’ve heard about socialized medicine’s huge issues in Canada”. Name me ONE issue. Besides, we are not held hostage by greedy insurance companies here; unlike the U.S., where they just look out for profits, not peoples’ well-being! Get your facts straight $arah; don’t blather on about what you know nothing of!
February 7, 2013 at 1:00 am
Cracklin' Charlie
His lack of professional achievement???
The man is serving his second term as President of the United States of America!!! The policies the President has pushed can only strengthen this country.
February 6, 2013 at 2:42 pm
CIP
A mother’s courage…..
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2013/01/22/mallick_why_newtown_victim_noah_pozner_had_an_open_coffin.html
February 6, 2013 at 5:05 pm
malialitman
CIP,
thanks as always for the link!
February 6, 2013 at 2:44 pm
FEDUP!!!
I totally support gun control, and specifically the ones that would have the high ammunition clips. I also wholeheartedly support background checks, and would LOVE to have those fingerprint securities that some gun manufacturers have, on EVERY gun, so that unauthorized people like either thieves or kids, could not shoot the gun.
However, I must also tell you, that there are people out there, who say that ‘only’ 6% of all shooting deaths come from those assault weapons…
To me, ANY number is too high – we are NOT at war, and we are NOT living in a war zone. At least not last time I checked…
February 6, 2013 at 5:04 pm
malialitman
FEDUP!!!
I don’t personally hunt, but I respect the right of hunters to do so. The problem is that the only thing anybody would hunt with an assault weapon is another person!
February 6, 2013 at 2:46 pm
Ottoline
O/T: Malia, I just heard Ken Rudin, Political Junkie, on PBS say more and more papers are covering Menendez and the S AM secret service scandal.
February 6, 2013 at 5:02 pm
malialitman
Ottoline,
Thanks for the information, and if you learn anything else, please keep us posted!!!
February 6, 2013 at 3:04 pm
steve
Let’s look at this issue another way. Explosives are just as much “arms” as are assault rifles. Both can be used as weapons of mass destruction. Explosives are readily available in other parts of the world, looking at the frequency of suicide bombings, car bombs, and other similar atrocities. In fact, explosives seem to be the weapon of choice in some regions.
The opposite is true in the US. You can’t just walk into a “dealer” and buy some C-4, even if you are a “law abiding citizen” (whatever that means). Possession and intent will put you in jail for a long, long time. Remember Timothy McVeigh? There were no bombings at Aurora or Sandy Hook.
According to the current NRA “logic,” restrictions on explosives are a serious infringement on our 2nd Amendment rights! Everyone should be able to walk in to a Home Depot and buy a box of TNT. And without a background check. Assault rifles are necessary to protect our freedom and liberty against the imminent tyrannical socialist government takeover. So are explosives and for the same reason. If a deranged subhuman blows up a movie theater or elementary school instead, that’s just a price we have to pay for protection of our Constitutional rights.
February 6, 2013 at 5:01 pm
malialitman
Steve,
Great point! The real difference seems to be that there isn’t as much money to be made selling explosives, or I think they’d change the laws to allow that too!
February 6, 2013 at 3:24 pm
John
HANDGUNS are a much, much, much larger problem than assault rifles. Mass murder by rifle is still extremely rare.
You want to make a real difference, do something about handguns.
Gun murders by type of weapon 2007-2011 (per FBI stats):
Handguns – 33,034
Rifles – 1,874
February 6, 2013 at 4:58 pm
malialitman
John,
As far as I’m concerned they should both be banned, but it doesn’t appear that either will be! My point is that even though the majority of Americans favor restrictions, there will be none due to the money behind the gun lobby.
February 6, 2013 at 6:39 pm
Julian
I totally agree with all you’ve said, but I question just how effective the NRA still is in electing the candidates it supports. Rachel Maddow came out with some surprising (I thought) figures on just how many of the NRA candidates actually got ellected. It was interesting reading.
February 6, 2013 at 4:19 pm
B.W.
A key point of yours here, Malia, that gun-control advocates should adopt is that these wingnuts who have killed innocent Americans are domestic terrorists, not people exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.
I contend that the Founding Fathers had no way of anticipating that their farmer-citizenry with a musket in the house would morph into aiplanes (blown up), assault weapons, high-rise building and embassies under attack, the U.S. as one of the top three arms manufacturers in the world…and so on. That’s why the Constitution needs to be viewed through the lens of reality, not the lens of history.
February 6, 2013 at 4:55 pm
malialitman
BW,
absolutely, we have morphed from the right of citizens to protect their homes to the right of people to buy and fire assault weapons anywhere they please, killing as many along the way as they can!
February 6, 2013 at 6:37 pm
In CT
a very close friend of mine’s State Police husband was gunned down in his cruiser after he rolled up on two brothers breaking into a gun shop. The Trooper died within 15-20 seconds and only had enough left in him to turn on his bar lights. He was discovered by an off duty fireman, at 1:30 AM. His wife of 8 months has never been right since. That was 1991.
This woman, a victims rights advocate, active in her church and community and an overall good person went down to Newtown after the murders to help. She knows some of those cops. And it doesn’t matter if she didn’t. She took her two kids and they all went to help.
Guns kill. Guns kill the good guys. They need to come off the counters at Walmart and must not be sold or traded at “shows”. There is just no reason on God’s green earth why anyone but a service member in combat or an officer of the law needs an assault rifle or a 30 round magazine.
Also, if people want to own these things, then they should be under lock and key at a GUN RANGE, where they all say they use them for sport. Lock them up away from their children. From their neighbors’ kids. From their unstable partner. How hard is this?
February 6, 2013 at 6:57 pm
In CT
Oh, I forgot to mention, 16 shots in 6 seconds. The Trooper died because one went into the hole in his vest at his armpit, into his chest cavity.
February 6, 2013 at 8:02 pm
lazrgrl
I remember that well, I lived not too far from the gun shop. And I believe it’s still in business, just moved to another town. It was absolutely shocking to think of that happening in such a quiet place, so close to home. It still gives me shivers.